"Karin-chan!"

I turned around. A blonde-haired girl was racing down the stairs to catch up to me. "Wait up, Karin-chan! I'm coming!"

I let out a small smile. It was always refreshing to see that carefree twin sister of mine, Yuzu.

"Come on, then."

As we exited the house, however, there came a shout from the street's end. "Yuzu-chan!"

It was Innane Aoka, one of Yuzu's friends. Despite being twins, our friend circles were kinda different. Yuzu was your typical girly-girl, while I was your typical tomboy.

Innane came running up to Yuzu. "Yuzu-chan, we have to go to get Dana-chan's gift, remember?"

"Oh, yes!" cried Yuzu. Then she turned to me. "Do you want to come along, Karin-chan?"

I shook my head. "I have football practice."

We parted way and I started walking towards school. Another normal day, I thought. It had been three years since Ichigo, our elder brother, had gone to Soul Society as the fifth squad's captain. He came to visit regularly, but duties were piling up on him. Our daily routine has been pretty much the same since then.

I guess an explanation is due.

Our family is what you'd call spiritually aware. Me, my dad and my brother Ichigo can see, feel, sense and touch spirits. Yuzu, unfortunately, can only see a very dim outline, and she can neither sense nor touch them. Ichigo by far has the strongest spiritual pressure amongst us. Four years ago his life, and indirectly ours too, was drastically changed when shinigami Kuchiki Rukia transferred her power to Ichigo to save us all, thus turning him into a substitute shinigami. As a substitute, he went on a rescue mission to Soul Society, and in the end became a key feature in a war against The Espadas.

After all that, three years ago, many captain and vice captain seats were vacant thanks to betrayers and casualties. Desperate, the head commander made Ichigo captain of the fifth squad. The vice captain, one Hinamori Momo, was made captain of some other squad and Rukia was made vice captain in Ichigo's squad.

I realized I was smiling as I thought of Ichigo and Rukia together. My brother may be one of the strongest shinigami around, but honestly, he's one of the biggest idiots I've seen. He still doesn't realize he likes Rukia, goddamnit!

I reached the school and started making my way to the football field.

"Kurosaki-san!"

It was Awazaki-sensei, my football coach. "Kurosaki-san, I'm afraid there won't be any practice today."

"What! B-but Awazaki-sensei, the match is just a month away!"

She sighed. "I know, Kurosaki-san. But something wrecked the football field last night, and we can't use it till tomorrow at the earliest."

Something wrecked it? What could wreck a football field so bad that it becomes unusable?

"Awazaki-sensei," I began. "Can I see it?"

She nodded and led me to the field. When I saw it, I let out an involuntary gasp. Sure, the place looked like it had been bombed, and splinters from the bleachers was stuck in the mud like spikes, but that was not what surprised me so much. It was the reiatsu I could sense from it. It was faint, but it was definitely there. During the Espada attack, I learned to distinguish between reiatsu to a fair amount. This was not an Espada, or a shinigami. There were traces of a hollow, but there was some unknown reiatsu overruling the hollow's. Something was definitely up.